Formatting scanned text in InDesign

Question

I have 300 pages for a book scanned by Acrobat Pro into editable text and divided into chapter files. I opened a chapter (.pdf) in InDesign and now have an .indd document. My problem is figurining a way to format the document. I thought I could format it by selecting all of the text and text frames then formatting all the pages at once then returning to correct the headers, page numbering, chapter heading, etc. This apparently is not the way to go.

What is the best way to format this .indd file?

Also I downloaded this template. How can I place my chapter txt from the pdf into this template? And will I be able to change all the settings if desired.

Thanks,

Ira Glunts

Mike Witherell · Accepted Answer

Ira,Assuming you already have all the text in InDesign, 1 click of the Type tool inserts into text; 2 clicks of the Type tool selects a word; 3 clicks of the Type tool selects a line of text; 4 clicks of the Type tool selects a paragraph; and 5 clicks of the Type tool selects all the paragraphs in a threaded story of text across multiple pages. (Don't under any circumstances click 6 times into the text!) Then you can click your common BodyText paragraph style to apply to the whole text. Then you could go through looking for Headings and apply that style here and there. You can also try out the slightly-imperfect Style Packs panel where it guesses at correct styles to apply.https://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/using/work-with-style-packs.html

Mike Witherell · Answer

Ira,I recommend opening the PDF in Acrobat Pro. Export all the text to a word docx. Then File > Place the word docx into any InDesign document file. Style the text with paragraph styles. Run a spell checker either in Word or in InDesign, or both.

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